PIA00855: High Spatial Resolution Europa Coverage by the Galileo Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS)


High Spatial Resolution Europa Coverage by the Galileo Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS)

Caption:

The NIMS instrument on the Galileo spacecraft, which is being used to map the mineral and ice properties over the surfaces of the Jovian moons, produces global spectral images at modest spatial resolution and high resolution spectral images for small selected regions on the satellites. This map illustrates the high resolution coverage of Europa obtained by NIMS through the April 1997 G7 orbit.

The areas covered are displayed on a Voyager-derived map. A good sampling of the dark trailing-side material (180 to 360 degrees) has been obtained, with less coverage of Europa's leading side.

The false-color composites use red, green and blue to represent the infrared brightnesses at 0.7, 1.51 and 1.82 microns respectively. Considerable variations are evident and are related to the composition and sizes of the surface grains.

Background Info:

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.

This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo .

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Europa
System Jupiter
Target Type Satellite
Mission Galileo Voyager
Instrument Host Galileo Orbiter
Host Type Orbiter Flyby Spacecraft
Instrument Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS)
Detector
Extra Keywords Color, Infrared, Map
Acquisition Date
Release Date 1998-03-26
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00855
Identifier PIA00855